The value of literature in medical education is widely accepted by medical teachers. There are examples of psychopathology in the characters of novels that provide illustrations of particular psychiatric diagnoses. Characters created by Charles Dickens, often eccentric, have been deemed to suffer from mental disorders. This may be because Dickens could draw on his extensive contact with Victorian psychiatry and interest in psychopathology to create authentic characters. He is widely acknowledged to have described many other medical conditions in his fiction and his writing is already used to teach medical students. This article reviews Dickens' contact with psychiatry and outlines the mental disorders possibly suffered by the characters under ICD 10 diagnostic headings. These descriptions, while interesting in their own right, may also prove useful to clinicians and teachers.


Background The need to provide quality palliative care within the intensive care unit (ICU) is increasingly recognised. Mortality and morbidity are high, and studies have noted benefits to providing palliative care support within ICU; however, there remain barriers to achieving quality end of life care. Aims Within a large tertiary referral centre ICU, a Supportive Care Pathway (SCP) was introduced with the aim of providing holistic care to patients and families where it was recognised that the patient may not survive their admission. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of intensive care doctors and nurses regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the SCP. Methods This was a qualitative study. Sampling was purposive. Semi structured interviews were conducted by the primary researcher and transcribed verbatim. Interviews continued until data saturation was reached. Analysis was by grounded theory. Results 10 face to face interviews were conducted, with 5 doctors and 5 nurses working on ICU. The study found that the SCP aided in reaching a consensus between team members caring for an individual patient. It was felt to empower staff to question the trajectory of care, and it was useful in helping to manage the expectations of family members, and at times, of colleagues, about ICU care. Participants found that dealing with uncertainty was a difficult part of managing care on ICU, and there were concerns voiced that it was difficult to identify the correct patients to put on the SCP, and that the SCP could become a self fulfilling prophecy. There were also concerns about the SCP becoming a euphemism for dying. Conclusions Participants were generally positive about the SCP and felt that it provided a useful mechanism for communication of the goals of care. There may be a role for similar care pathways more widely within intensive care units.


Sand rats (Psammomys obesus) maintained on a diet providing a free choice between laboratory chow and salt bush (Atriplex halimus) were classified into four groups differing in extent of the diabetic syndrome: A, normoglycemic-normoinsulinemic; B, normoglycemichyperinsulinemic; C, hyperglycemic-hyperinsulinemic; or D, hyperglycemic with reduced insulin levels. The metabolic pattern of these groups was characterized by measuring 1) the uptake of fatty acid-labeled, very-lowdensity lipoprotein-borne triglycerides (VLDL-TG) and [3H]%-2-deoxyglucose (2-DOG) into muscle and adipose tissues; 2) incorporation of [14C]alanine into glycogen in vivo; 3) gluconeogenesis from lactate, pyruvate, and alanine in hepatocytes; 4) the effect of insulin on glycogen synthesis from glucose; 5) the oxidation of albumin-bound [1-14C]palmitate and [14C]glucose in strips of soleus muscle; 6) activities of muscle and adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase; and 7) activities of rate-limiting enzymes of glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and fatty acid synthesis in liver. In group A, uptake of VLDL-TG and activity of lipoprotein lipase were higher in adipose tissue and lower in muscle than in albino rats. In the liver, gluconeogenesis and the activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, as well as lipid synthesis and the activity of NAOP-malate dehydrogenase,were higher than in albino rats, whereas activity of pyruvate kinase was lower. In group B, uptake of VLDL-TG by adipose tissue and muscle and lipoprotein lipase activity were similar or higher than in group A. Uptake of 2-DOG by muscle and adipose tissue and activity of liver phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase were lower than in group A. In groups C and D, uptake of VLDL-TG and lipoprotein lipase activity in muscle were further increased. In adipose tissue a progressive decrease in VLDL-TG uptake and lipoprotein lipase activity was found, and uptake of 2-DOG by muscle and adipose tissue was further reduced. In the liver, gluconeogenesis was increased, and activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase reached a maximum in group D. These results suggest that in the hyperinsulinemic stage (group B), uptake of glucose by muscle and adipose tissue is reduced, but insulin suppresses gluconeogenesis and stimulates hepatic synthesis and adipose tissue uptake of TG. Hyperglycemia manifests itself when insulin resistance results in increased gluconeogenesis and a further reduction in peripheral glucose uptake. These characteristics can be regarded as a model for the development of type II diabetes in humans evoked by nutritional affluence.


The recent Ebola outbreak has caused worldwide consternation due to the spread of the disease and the high fatality rate, especially within the health care profession. Unfortunately this exacerbated the already limited health care infrastructure within Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Recruitment and the ability to respond by humanitarian aid organisations were impaired due to lack of willing delegates, facilities and equipment. This investigative qualitative study of International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent staff was conducted in three West African countries to assess the current staff health situation and make recommendations for improvement to issues and needs that may impact staff capacity to deliver services during deployment. A field visit was conducted in September 2014 during which a diary of interviews, notes and logged events was taken. The information will be used to inform a modified Delphi study for the development of minimum standards for occupational health for humanitarian aid workers. A total of 24 delegates were interviewed in Conakry (Guinea), Freetown and Kenema (Sierra Leone) and Monrovia (Liberia). The issues raised during the interviews covered pre-deployment, deployment, post-deployment and various issues related to work and life as a delegate in an Ebola operation. Pre-deployment issues raised were: addressing the concerns expressed by family, friends and employer, the importance of medical clearance and receiving health briefing prior to deployment and appropriate special training. Deployment raised different issues regarding ability to maintain personal health, location and acceptability of accommodation, new ways of living and working, including development of standard operating procedures to ensure quality of care and safety, security and travel restrictions and communication with family, friends and colleagues. Post-deployment concerns included media-related issues impacting on family, alienation instead of admiration, quarantine and ability to go home, and coming to terms with their experiences. The Ebola outbreak posed a huge challenge to the deploying humanitarian organisations in terms of recruiting, preparing, deploying, post-deployment and supporting their delegates through this process. The lessons learnt from this study and recommendations made to improve the future health and safety of humanitarian aid workers will inform the development of minimum standards for occupational health for these professions.


Until recently, item response models such as the factor analysis model for metric responses, the two-parameter logistic model for binary responses and the multinomial model for nominal responses considered only the main effects of latent variables without allowing for interaction or polynomial latent variable effects. However, non-linear relationships among the latent variables might be necessary in real applications. Methods for fitting models with non-linear latent terms have been developed mainly under the structural equation modelling approach. In this paper, we consider a latent variable model framework for mixed responses (metric and categorical) that allows inclusion of both non-linear latent and covariate effects. The model parameters are estimated using full maximum likelihood based on a hybrid integration-maximization algorithm. Finally, a method for obtaining factor scores based on multiple imputation is proposed here for the non-linear model.


Until the last decades of the nineteenth century, Mexico faced the twin problems of chronic political instability and slow economic growth. During the period of the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship (1876-1911), however, a series of institutional reforms reignited growth and created rents that enabled the Diaz government to threaten its opponents with military force or to buy them off. These institutional reforms came out of distinctly political processes, which often had to be brokered among multiple groups of economic elites and regional political bosses. Therefore, they were often structured to encourage investment by specifying property rights or creating streams of rents for particular entrepreneurs. In short, Porfirian Mexico is an excellent natural laboratory in which to investigate not only how institutional change can foment economic growth, but also how specific features of political institutions give rise to specific economic institutions that have both positive and negative effects on growth and distribution. In fact, the distributional consequences of the Porfirian regime gave rise to the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1917, which produced a further round of dramatic changes in Mexico's political institutions. These changes, in turn, restructured the institutions that governed property rights and those that determined the allocation of rents generated by property rights. This book aims both to identify the crucial institutions and to measure their economic effects. In addressing these issues, the contributors to this volume employ theoretical insights from the New Institutional Economics and statistical hypothesis-testing as well as traditional archival methods. Thus, in addition to advancing the field of Latin American economic history by studying the interaction of political and economic institutions during the period 1870-1930, the book also makes a methodological contribution by using analytic tools not previously employed in the literature.


In this study, we report the investigations conducted on the mimetic behavior of a new humanoid robot called Alter3 1 . Alter3 autonomously imitates the motions of a human in front of him and stores the motion sequences in its memory. Alter3 also contains a self-simulator that simulates its own motions before executing them and generates a self-image. We inves-tigate how this mimetic behavior evolves with human inter- action, by analyzing memory dynamics and information flow between Alter3 and humans. One important observation from this study is that when Alter3 fails to imitate human motion, humans tend to imitate Alter3 instead. This tendency is quan- tified by the alternation of the direction of information flow. At the conference we will also report on the experiments we carried out recently, in which two Alters imitated each other, and in which we let people possess and imitate Alter.


This paper gathers experiences and results from several demonstration projects in the field of grid integration of electric vehicles. The analyzed research projects are selected among research institutes and universities that are part of the European Energy Research Alliance Joint Program on Smart Grids. The paper provides an overview of recent trends in the field of electric vehicles integration issues and then dives deeper into specific aspects of each project. Twelve research projects are presented in general terms, while detailed information can be retrieved from the references and the websites. Although each project has its focus, a common element that can be devised is that the charging process can be technically controlled based on different interests and algorithms, but its role in the market is still under development. Particular focus is always given to the behavior of the user, which ultimately determines the possible level of flexibility that the electric vehicle can provide to the grid.


Light emitting diode (LED) fluorescence microscopy offers well described benefits compared with brightfield microscopy by Ziehl-Neelsen stained sputum, even which are smear negative. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of fluorescence microscopy, using novel light-emitting diode (LED) technology as an alternative to the brightfield microscopy. The objective of this study was the role of LED fluorescence microscopy in diagnosis of smear negative pulmonary tUberculosis. This is a prospective study consisted of 50 smear negative patients, who were clinically suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. All samples were stained by both ZN stain and Auramine stain and as a gold standard all were cultured on Lowenstein-Jensen Media. On evaluation of all sputum samples were found negative by ZN method but by auramine stain 16%, 20%, 20% cases were found positive by conventional fluorescence microscopy (CFM), LED and culture respectively. LED fluorescence microscopy is more useful test to distinguish the smear negative cases. It also provide an effective guideline to make decisions regarding judicious use of antitubercular drug therapy. Keywords: Smear negative Sputum; LED; CFM; Culture; Pulmonary Tuberculosis DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjpath.v26i1.9126 BJPATH 2011; 26(1): 3-6


Cone penetration tests (CPTs) have been performed on very soft marsh and foundation soils in support of the dike design of two containment areas for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Georgia. Due to the inherent variability in layer thickness and soil classification within a CPT sounding profile, an algorithm has been written to automate the CPT sounding analysis. The algorithm was initially written to automate the data interpretation process (i.e. soil classification and strength evaluation) and was later expanded to (i) evaluate strength gain and (ii) estimate settlement using CPT profiles. The algorithm uses CPT profiles (obtained at the same location during different time frames) that are analyzed through signal processing techniques incorporated in the code. The signal processing techniques used include high frequency filters and a series of cross-correlation techniques. The algorithm also incorporates a series of curve fitting techniques to evaluate the profiles as a function of depth. This paper provides an overview of the techniques used in the algorithm along with strength gain plots.Comparison between settlements estimated using the CPT soundings through signal processing and settlements calculated using conventional theories are also presented. The comparison shows favorable agreement between the two techniques.


The authors propose to extend burst-mode specifications, a class of asynchronous finite-state machine specification that allows multiple-input changes. The proposed extensions allow concurrent transitions of inputs and outputs and input choices based on level conditional signals. An example that features the proposed extensions is presented and the deficiencies of existing specification styles, in particular, SG and original burst-mode are pointed out. The impact if these extensions on the hazard-free implementation of the 3-D machine and its synthesis procedure is analyzed. The results of experiments using the modified 3-D synthesis tool are presented and it is shown that the performance numbers are consistent with examples of comparable complexity not requiring the extensions.<<ETX>>


CO2 conversion to useful materials is the most attractive approach to control its content in the atmosphere. An ideal electrode material for supercapacitors should possess suitable meso/macro-pores as electrolyte reservoirs and rich micro-pores as places for the adsorption of electrolyte ions. Herein, we designed and synthesized such an ideal material, meso/macro-porous frameworks of surface-microporous graphene (MFSMG), from CO2via its one-step exothermic reaction with potassium. Furthermore, the MFSMG electrode exhibited a high gravimetric capacitance of 178 F g−1 at 0.2 A g−1 in 2 M KOH and retained 85% capacitance after increasing current density by 50 times. The combination of the MFSMG electrode and the activated carbon (AC) electrode constructed an asymmetrical AC//MFSMG capacitor, leading to a high capacitance of 242.4 F g−1 for MFSMG and 97.4 F g−1 for AC. With the extended potential, the asymmetrical capacitor achieved an improved energy density of 9.43 W h kg−1 and a power density of 3504 W kg−1. This work provides a novel solution to solve the CO2 issue and creates an efficient electrode material for supercapacitors.


The availability of a random number generator with high cryptographic qualities on a computer is one of the central issues of cryptographic implementations. HAVEGE (HArdware Volatile Entropy Gathering and Expansion) is a new software heuristic for generating unpredictable random numbers on PC s and workstations. PCs and workstations are built around modern superscalar microprocessors. These processors feature complex hardware mechanisms that aim to increase performance. A significant part of the global state of the microprocessor is not architecturally visible through the instruction set (e.g. caches, branch predictors and buffers). HAVEGE leverages the uncertainty introduced in the internal states of the processor by external events. HAVEGE combines entropy/uncertainty gathering from the architecturally invisible states of a modern superscalar microprocessor with pseudo-random number generation. First we show that the hardware clock cycle counter of the processor can be used to gather part of the uncertainty introduced by operating system interruptions in the internal state of the processor. Tens of thousands of unpredictable bits can be gathered per operating system interruption in average. Then, we show how this entropy gathering technique can be combined with pseudo-random number generation in HAVEGE. Since the internal state of HAVEGE includes thousands of internal volatile hardware states, HAVEGE features a very high security level. HAVEGE also reaches an unprecedented throughput for a software unpredictable random number generator: more than 100 Mbits/s with off-the-shelf workstations and PCs.


: Several risk factors for atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease (PAD), such as dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension, are heritable. However, predisposition to PAD may be influenced by genetic variants acting independently of these risk factors. Identification of such genetic variants will provide insights into underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms and facilitate the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. In contrast to coronary heart disease, relatively few genetic variants that influence susceptibility to PAD have been discovered. This may be, in part, because of greater clinical and genetic heterogeneity in PAD. In this review, we (1) provide an update on the current state of knowledge about the genetic basis of PAD, including results of family studies and candidate gene, linkage as well as genome-wide association studies; (2) highlight the challenges in investigating the genetic basis of PAD and possible strategies to overcome these challenges; and (3) discuss the potential of genome sequencing, RNA sequencing, differential gene expression, epigenetic profiling, and systems biology in increasing our the Limb and Exercise Limitations in Peripheral Lower Extremity of Peripheral Artery Disease: The Pathophysiologic and Functional Implications of Leg Ischemia The Challenges, and Modulating the Vascular Response to Limb Ischemia: Angiogenic and Cell Therapies Pharmacological Current Endovascular Intervention for Peripheral Artery Disease Surgical for dysplasia, the prominent features are excessive fibroblasts, deposition of increased amounts of extra cellular matrix, and relative paucity of inflammatory cells.


Friction Stir Welding (FSW) has been proven an excellent method for joining of non-ferrous alloys in several industrial areas. The introduction of industrial robots in FSW has extended the possibilities, now also including complex 3-dimesional structures to be joined. There is however issues regarding the robot system's performance as well as how to really benefit from the extended flexibility features. This paper presents how the FSW robot system ROSIOTM is intended to be used to fully explore its potential usage in production and laboratory applications. This include presenting the system's performance in a set of case studies, but also defining in which way this system may be a subject for increased productivity in FSW.


Psychological First Aid is designed to reduce the initial distress caused by traumatic events and to foster short- and long-term adaptive functioning and coping. Many distressing events happen in the world, such as war, natural disasters, accidents, fires and interpersonal violence affect the individuals, family and sometimes the entire community leading to a wide range of reactions and feelings. During these crisis situation, quick recovery steps are to be taken along with emergency care for which a professional practical training is necessary. WHO recommends psychological first aid can be provided to the person in need of psychological and social support based on which the study aims in understanding the opinion about inclusion of PFA in the course curriculum among the students and faculties of medical and psychiatric social work in Chennai. This is a cross-sectional study including 52 students and 10 academicians out of 90 students and 25 academicians from 10 colleges offering medical and psychiatric social work in Chennai by disproportionate random sampling. The finding shows the need of the practice of relaxation techniques among the professionals and majority of them were aware of relaxation techniques but not practicing. Also, there exist a strong agreeableness among the academicians and students in their opinion about the psychological first aid training. The paper suggests hands-on training on psychological first aid to enhance the skills of social worker.


Antibacterial activity of Lentinula edodes against Bacillus subtilis was evaluated in cell-free filtrates obtained after growth in 14 different culture media. The highest B. subtilis growth inhibition was promoted by filtrates of growth media supplemented with rice bran, vermiculite or molasses. L. edodes dry mycelial biomass in liquid culture with 0.5% added rice bran was 3.2 mg/ml, after growth for 30 days at 25oC without shaking, and 4.3 mg/ml under orbital shaking (150 rpm). However, antibacterial activity, detected between 20 and 24 days of incubation of stationary cultures, was absent in filtrates of aerated cultures. Temperatures of 20-25oC enhanced both growth and antibacterial activity. Optimum pH for L. edodes mycelial growth was 3.0-3.5, while for production of antibacterial substance(s) it was 4.5. Our results indicated that incubation conditions that enhance mycelial growth are quite different from those necessary for production of antibacterial substance(s) by L. edodes.


Creating a vivid video from the event or scenario in our imagination is a truly fascinating experience. Recent advancements in text-to-video synthesis have unveiled the potential to achieve this with prompts only. While text is convenient in conveying the overall scene context, it may be insufficient to control precisely. In this paper, we explore customized video generation by utilizing text as context description and motion structure (e.g. frame-wise depth) as concrete guidance. Our method, dubbed Make-Your-Video, involves joint-conditional video generation using a Latent Diffusion Model that is pre-trained for still image synthesis and then promoted for video generation with the introduction of temporal modules. This two-stage learning scheme not only reduces the computing resources required, but also improves the performance by transferring the rich concepts available in image datasets solely into video generation. Moreover, we use a simple yet effective causal attention mask strategy to enable longer video synthesis, which mitigates the potential quality degradation effectively. Experimental results show the superiority of our method over existing baselines, particularly in terms of temporal coherence and fidelity to users' guidance. In addition, our model enables several intriguing applications that demonstrate potential for practical usage.


AI (Artificial Intelligence) is one of the hot keywords in Computer Science research and development these days. Applications of AI are very diverse that include but not limited to image recognition, voice recognition, industry manufacturing, auto driving and human interaction for any service industry. Here we propose a knowledge upload system utilizing different AI techniques. The knowledge recording part of the system works in this way. First the human voice is captured using microphone. Later on the captured voice is converted into text using voice recognition techniques. Finally, the recognized text is categorized into personal or general category using semantic techniques. The knowledge retrieval part of the system on the other hand helps in retrieving the thoughts of a person whose knowledge has been uploaded regarding some particular subject. A knowledge upload service can be beneficial for each generation as the people of that generation can benefit from the thoughts of people of earlier generation. In this way precious human knowledge can be saved for the benefit of mankind. Normally AI is general which is not specific to a person but the system proposed here can be termed as a step towards PAI (Personal Artificial Intelligence).


Background: Mutations in mitofusin 2 gene have been reported in Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2 disease also known as Hereditary Sensory and Motor Neuropathy. With its cytogenetic location: 1p36.22. Case presentation: A 43-year-old female with a family history of neuropathy was experiencing gradual deterioration and proximal weakness of the bilateral lower limb for the past 3 years. Her MRI scan (Brain and whole Spinal) was normal and Electromyography (EMG) report was suggestive of motor & sensory demyelinating polyneuropathy with features of segmental involvement. Her Creatine phosphokinase (CPK) levels were marginally elevated. However, all other investigations were within normal range. Conclusions: A heterozygous missense variant denoted as c.701T > A at level of cDNA in exon 7 of the MFN2 gene was discovered which resulted in the substitution of Methionine by Lysine at position 234 [p.Met234Lys] of the amino acid sequence which was confirmed by Sanger sequence.


Global warming is defined as the increase of the average temperature on Earth. As the Earth is getting hotter, disasters like hurricanes, droughts and floods are getting more frequent. Over the last 100 years, the average air temperature near the Earth's surface has risen by a little less than 1 degree Celsius or 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit. Deforestation increases the severity of global warming. The ocean is a huge carbon sink, holding about 50 times as much carbon as the atmosphere. The oceans are no longer able to store carbon as they have in the past. Burning fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal, oil and gasoline raises the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and carbon dioxide is a major contributor to the greenhouse effect and global warming. The climate change would increase the number of people suffering from death, disease and injury from heatwaves, floods, storms and droughts. Floods are low-probability, high-impact events that can overwhelm physical infrastructure and human communities. Major storm and flood disasters have occurred in the last two decades. One can help to reduce the demand for fossil fuels, which in turn reduces global warming, by using energy more wisely.


Background: Ulcers of the foot are one of the most feared and common complications of diabetes. It is a major cause of disability, morbidity and mortality among diabetic patients and about 15% develop foot ulcers in their lifetime. So far, there are few published data in relation to the high-risk diabetic foot in Ethiopian subjects. Methods: A retrospective study was done to determine the various risks as well as antecedent factors, other long term complications, treatment profile and subsequent follow up of 196 patients with diabetic foot disease admitted to the Tikur Anbessa Specialized Referral Hospital from Jan 1999 to Dec 2003. Patients' medical records were reviewed using pre-prepared formats and relevant data were abstracted. The data were analyzed using Epi info version 3.4.3 statistical soft ware. Results: A total of 196 patients were included in this study. The male to female ratio was 3 to 1. The median age was 60 years (IQR, 47-65). Median duration of symptoms before presentation was 21 days (IQR, 14-30) and the median duration of diabetes mellitus was144 months (IQR, 60-216). More than two thirds had type 2 diabetes mellitus. Among 109 patients with identified antecedent risk factors for their foot problem, ill fitting or new shoes attributed in 48(44%). Neuro-ischaemic ulcers were seen in 113 (58%) of the cases and neuropathic ulcer in 63 (32%). Ulcer with cellulitis or gangrene was the most common mode of presentation seen in 92 (47%) of the patients. Ninety two (47%) patients had amputations. Re-amputation was necessary in 24 (26%) of these cases. Less than 40% of the total cases had a regular follow up either at a clinic or hospital. Diabetes was diagnosed for the first time in 7 cases (4%) on presentation with foot ulcer. The mean glycemic level was poorly controlled in over 80% of the cases. The overall mortality rate was 21% and sepsis was the most identified cause. Conclusion: Lack of regular patient follow up and diabetes education on foot care, poor glycemic control, delay in patient presentation and surgical intervention as well as patients' refusal to undergo surgical interventions were the reported contributing factors for the observed high mortality. Recommendation: Diabetic education on foot care, emphasis on metabolic control of diabetes, early presentation and surgical intervention when appropriate has to be highlighted in the management of diabetic patients. More studies have to be done in relation to the high-risk diabetic foot particularly in the Ethiopian setting emphasizing on preventive aspects.


The Social Charter declares that the social dimension of the Community be given the same importance as the economic dimension. Despite this, the EC currently lacks any coherent, consistent or comprehensive social philosophy of policy. State intervention in the form of social policy can be justified mainly on grounds of efficiency, equity or solidarity. The appropriate level of intervention - local, regional, national or EC - is considered separately. In terms of efficiency, issues are raised about diversity versus uniformity, about the existence of cross-national externalities, and about imperfect information. In equity terms, closer European integration is likely to increase disparities and inequalities both within and between member states. Consideration of solidarity raises complex questions of citizenship and inclusion. The question of the type of social policy appropriate to the European level cannot be separated from the wider question of the type of Europe that is envisaged. Three models are considered: a Customs Union; economic integration ('1992'); and economic and political union. Each of these models of the EC has quite different implications for social polrcy. A number of cross-cutting issues are also addressed: federalism and subsidiarity; citizenship; democracy and accountability. Throughout, the arm is not to provide a blueprint for a European social policy, but to cut back some of the present confusion and to clarify the choices that need to be made.


ABSTRACT Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable plasma cell malignancy with poor survival. Autophagy, a stress-responsive catabolic process mediated by lysosomal activity, plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of MM. Growing evidence has indicated that dysregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) are associated with the aberrant autophagy in various human cancers. However, to date, few miRNAs have been reported to directly modulate autophagy in the pathobiology of MM. In this study, we investigated the role of MIR145-3p (microRNA 145-3p) in MM, with focus on cellular processes autophagy and cell death. Our results provided evidence that downregulation of MIR145-3p expression was associated with disease progression in human MM. MIR145-3p triggered autophagic flux through direct targeting of HDAC4 (histone deacetylase 4) in MM cells, leading to enhanced apoptosis. Silencing HDAC4 recapitulated the effects of MIR145-3p, whereas enforced expression of HDAC4 abrogated the effects of MIR145-3p. Furthermore, we showed that suppression of HDAC4 by MIR145-3p resulted in upregulation of the pro-apoptotic protein BCL2L11 and caused MTORC1 inactivation, which in turn led to enhanced autophagy and cell death. Importantly, we demonstrated that MIR145-3p mimic could potentiate the anti-MM activity of bortezomib in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Overall, our findings indicate that MIR145-3p exerted a tumor suppression function in MM by inducing autophagic cell death and suggest that MIR145-3p-based targeted therapy would represent a novel strategy for MM treatment. Abbreviations: 3-MA: 3-methyladenine; 3ʹ-UTR: 3ʹ-untranslated region; 7-AAD: 7-aminoactinomycin D; ACTB: actin beta; ANXA5: annexin A5; ATG5: autophagy related 5; ATG7: autophagy related 7; B2M: beta-2-microglobulin; BAF: bafilomycin A1; BCL2L11: BCL2 like 11; Bort: bortezomib; CASP3: caspase 3; CCK-8: Cell Counting Kit-8; CQ: chloroquine; Ct: threshold cycle; ctrl: control; DAPI: 4ʹ,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; GFP: green fluorescent protein; HDAC4: histone deacetylase 4; ISS: International Staging System; MAP1LC3B: microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta; miRNAs: microRNAs; MIR145-3p: microRNA 145-3p; MM: multiple myeloma; mRNA: messenger RNA; MTOR: mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase; MTORC1: mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase complex 1; PCs: plasma cells; PFS: progression-free survival; qRT-PCR: quantitative reverse transcription PCR; RPS6KB1: ribosomal protein S6 kinase B1; SD: standard deviation; siRNA: small interfering RNA; SQSTM1: sequestosome 1; STV: starvation; TUBB: tubulin beta class I.


Objective To investigate the prevalence of microalbuminuria (MAU) among Chinese individuals without diabetes and the relationship between MAU and metabolic factors, individual socioeconomic status (SES), and regional economic development level. Design Cross-sectional study of prevalence of MAU. Setting 152 urban street districts and 112 rural villages from northeast, north, east, south central, northwest and southwest China. Participants 46 239 participants were recruited using a multistage stratified sampling design from 2007 to 2008. A total of 41 290 participants without diabetes determined by oral glucose tolerance test were included in the present study. Urine albumin/creatinine ratio results of 35 430 individuals were available. Primary and secondary outcome measures Positive detection of MAU was determined using an ACR of 22.1–299.9 mg/g in men 30.9–299.9 mg/g in women. Results The prevalence of MAU in men was 22.4% and 24.5% in women. In developed, intermediate-developed and under-developed areas, the prevalence of MAU in men was 20.7%, 21.9% and 32.5%, respectively; in women the prevalence was 19.6%, 26.0% and 29.5%, respectively. The prevalence of MAU increased as the number of metabolic disorders present increased, and as the number of lower SES components increased (farmer, below university education level and low income). Prevalence of MAU in developed and intermediate developed areas had adjusted risk ratios of 0.52 (95% CI 0.42 to 0.60) and 0.65 (95% CI 0.57 to 0.76), respectively. Multivariate logistic analyses demonstrated MAU was strongly associated with older age, high-blood pressure, higher blood glucose low education level, low occupational level and residence in under-developed region. Conclusions Several factors had independent correlations to MAU in China: older age, metabolic abnormalities, lower SES level and living in economically under-developed areas, which encourage the development of strategies to lower the risk for MAU in these susceptible populations.


ABSTRACT Porphyromonas gingivalis has been shown to accelerate atherosclerotic lesion development in hyperlipidemic animals. We assessed the potential of a nasal vaccine against P. gingivalis infection for the prevention of atherosclerosis. Apolipoprotein E-deficient spontaneously hyperlipidemic (Apoeshl) mice were nasally immunized with the 40-kDa outer membrane protein (OMP) of P. gingivalis plus cholera toxin (CT) as adjuvant and then challenged intravenously with P. gingivalis strain 381. The animals were euthanized 11 or 14 weeks later. Atheromatous lesions in the proximal aorta of each animal were analyzed histomorphometrically, and the serum concentrations of 40-kDa OMP-specific antibodies and cytokines were determined. The areas of the aortic sinus that were covered with atherosclerotic plaque and the serum levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines were increased in Apoeshl mice challenged with P. gingivalis compared to nonchallenged mice. In comparison, nasal immunization with 40-kDa OMP plus CT significantly reduced atherosclerotic plaque accumulation in the aortic sinus and lowered the serum levels of cytokines and chemokines compared to nonimmunized animals. Nasal immunization also induced 40-kDa OMP-specific serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) and saliva IgA antibody responses. These findings suggest that systemic infection with P. gingivalis accelerates atherosclerosis in Apoeshl mice, and 40-kDa OMP plus CT may be an effective nasal vaccine for the reduction of atherosclerosis accelerated by P. gingivalis in the hyperlipidemic mouse model.


"Cross-priming" describes the activation of naïve CD8+ T cells by professional antigen-presenting cells that have acquired viral or tumor antigens from "donor" cells. Antigen transfer is believed to be mediated by donor cell–derived molecular chaperones bearing short peptide ligands generated by proteasome degradation of protein antigens. We show here that cross-priming is based on the transfer of proteasome substrates rather than peptides. These findings are potentially important for the rational design of vaccines that elicit CD8+ T cell responses.


In the last decade, the development of technologies and tools for eye tracking has been a constantly growing area. Detecting the center of the pupil, using image processing techniques, has been an essential step in this process. A large number of techniques have been proposed for pupil center detection using both traditional image processing and machine learning-based methods. Despite the large number of methods proposed, no comparative work on their performance was found, using the same images and performance metrics. In this work, we aim at comparing four of the most frequently cited traditional methods for pupil center detection in terms of accuracy, robustness, and computational cost. These methods are based on the circular Hough transform, ellipse fitting, Daugman's integro-differential operator and radial symmetry transform. The comparative analysis was performed with 800 infrared images from the CASIA-IrisV3 and CASIA-IrisV4 databases containing various types of disturbances. The best performance was obtained by the method based on the radial symmetry transform with an accuracy and average robustness higher than 94%. The shortest processing time, obtained with the ellipse fitting method, was 0.06 s.


Pirdot (Saurauia vulcani, Korth) is a species of Actinidiaceae, has been used to treat diabetes mellitus traditionally and empirically gives satisfactory results. The purpose of this study are to study antidiabetic effect of ethanolic extract of Saurauia vulcani Korth leaves. Saurauia vulcani Korth leaves. This Research also testing antidiabetic activity of Saurauia vulcani Korth leaves ethanolic extract, performed antidiabetic effect on white male mice with alloxan induction method The results simplisia characterization and ethanol extracts obtained water content of 6.65% and 7.25% respectively; water soluble extract was 23.55% and 64.25% respectively. Levels of ethanol soluble extract was 20.32% and 66.45% respectively. Total ash content was 4.01% and 0.60% respectively. Acid insoluble ash content was 0.88% and 0.48% respectively. Phytochemical screening of simplisia and ethanol extract are the same, both showed the presence of flavonoid, glycosides, saponins, tannins and steroids / triterpenoids,. Ethanolic extract of Saurauia vulcani Korth leaves shows good results as antidiabetic effect, indicated by significant depletion of blood glucose level in alloxan induced diabetic mice for ten days. Blood glucose level reduce 55.11%, with ethanolic extract of Saurauia vulcani Korth leaves 200 mg / kg body weight, compare with metformin 50 mg / kg body weight only show blood glucose level reduce 47.76%. Based on the analysis it can be concluded that the ethanolic extract of Saurauia vulcani Korth leaves have an antidiabetic effect.


We introduce a distributed protocol to achieve multiuser diversity in a multicell multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) uplink network, referred to as a MIMO interfering multiple-access channel (IMAC). Assuming both no information exchange among base stations (BS) and local channel state information at the transmitters for the MIMO IMAC, we propose a joint beamforming and user scheduling protocol, and then show that the proposed protocol can achieve the optimal multiuser diversity gain, i.e., KMlog(SNRlog N), as long as the number of mobile stations (MSs) in a cell, N, scales faster than SNR K M − L 1 − ϵ for a small constant ϵ > 0, where M, L, K, and SNR denote the number of receive antennas at each BS, the number of transmit antennas at each MS, the number of cells, and the signal-to-noise ratio, respectively. Our result indicates that multiuser diversity can be achieved in the presence of intra-cell and inter-cell interference even in a distributed fashion. As a result, vital information on how to design distributed algorithms in interference-limited cellular environments is provided.


Since its Situationist origins in Paris, psychogeography has been considered a primarily urban pursuit. But psychogeographical approaches can easily be extended to walking in rural and semi-rural areas, where constraints and controls on pedestrian access abound.
In this paper I will discuss how psychogeographical practices can be adapted to enhance and alter our experience of rural place, and in particular, sites of historical interest. I will explore how the Situationist-inspired movements Experimental Tourism (Joel Henry), Mythogeography and Counter-Tourism (Phil Smith) react against the packaging of heritage sites and the sanitising effects of the heritage industry.
As a 'lay' enthusiast, outside the archaeological community, I am keen to explore what creative interpretation can bring to the experience of heritage sites. How readily can visitors apply the advice of alternative site guides, such as Wrights & Sites A Mis-Guide to anywhere (Hodge et al. 2006) and Counter-Tourism: a handbook (Smith 2012)? How can one look beyond prescribed readings of heritage sites without rejecting expert knowledge?
In light of these issues, I will discuss how I am currently developing my own 'attentive walking' practise-based research into heritage projects in Kent, including work with English Heritage sites and volunteers.


The 1958 crisis in Lebanon was a significant event in modern Middle Eastern and international history. Interpretations, however, overlook or subordinate the Lebanese dimensions and how the Lebanese interpreted crisis and causation, through the lens of established community mythologies. Lebanon contains different, confessionally-defined communities, with a long history of tensions and clashes between them. Examination of these enables the Lebanese dimensions to the 1958 crisis to be given due weight. While regional and international dimensions are of clear importance, the crisis resulted from internal Lebanese factors, long and short term, relating to the different communities, rather than to the impact of international issues such as Nasserism. Where such issues were significant it was because they were not imposed, but invoked by Lebanese elements in the name of Lebanese foreign policy, in order to further their own cause and agendas for Lebanon. The mythologies surrounding the 'historical' evolution of the communities helped shape the differing agendas for Lebanon. Of the communities, the Maronite community and its invocation of mythology has played a consistently significant role. The Druze and Sunni, were, at different times, of significance also, particularly in terms of relations with the Maronites. These groups used their interpretations of the 'history' of Lebanon to justify their agendas for the future of Lebanon, and in so doing, helped to precipitate a crisis. The political compromise set up to administer Lebanon was based on 'historical' assumptions and differences, and was consequently vulnerable. In this context, the role of Chamoun in escalating the ever-present level of intercommunal tension, in 1957 and 1958, is another major element in the study. The study uses a range of sources, including official and private papers, unpublished memoirs, oral evidence and newspapers, to map communal feelings and tensions leading to the crisis itself, and its resolution.


The relationship of soil natural drainage, native vegetation, and textural development to exchangeable aluminum, exchange acidity, pH (CaCl₂), total carbon and clay was studied in selected loess soils in Iowa. Greatest differences in measured properties in the laboratory were observed along biosequences. Prairie soils had only trace amounts of exchangeable aluminum, but usually had the most A-horizon exchange acidity. Forest soils had both maximum exchangeable aluminum and exchange acidity in the B-horizon, corresponding to maximum clay accumulation. "Transition" soils, presumably an encroachment of forest on a former prairie, were similar to forest soils. Only minor differences in measured properties were observed in natural drainage sequences. Acidity correlates with organic matter in prairie soils and with clay content in forest soils. The organic matter appears to act as a buffer in prairie soils and in the A-horizon of transition and forest soils. Aluminum acts to buffer the forest and transition soil B-horizons.


Recent research finds that producers assigned to multiple categories receive less attention and legitimacy and have lower chances of success and survival. We argue that the effect of category spanning on the reception from the audience depends on the fuzziness of the categories. When a set of categories lacks contrast (have very fuzzy boundaries), spanning them does not cause much additional confusion for the audience, thus the penalties associated with spanning ought to be slight. But, when the contrasts of the categories spanned are high, audience members will have difficulty interpreting the producer, so spanning categories will be devalued more. We study these processes using data from an online-review web site. Results show that audience members devalue organizations that span high-contrast categories more than those that span low-contrast categories. These effects are weaker for more active reviewers.


The author looks at some of the ways in which this play has been made accessible, as a romantic story of young love, as "West Side Story" or a colourful and spectacular historical pageant and suggests that they lead away from the Elizabethan play-text. Holderness attempts to relocate the play back into its original performance conditions - he examines and analyzes its language to show how it is designed to work as theatre - and revalues the characters in the light of some reflections on the nature of dramatic roles. On this basis it should be possible to propose some thoughts about the play as a "tragedy" which will take us beyond both Aristotle's poetics and the popular notion of the play as the teenager's experience of heartbreak. Holderness has also written "Who's Who in D.H. Lawrence", "Shakespeare's History", "Shakespeare in Performance: The Taming of the Shrew".


The hybrid moment and finite element methods are used to obtain 3-D scattering and/or absorption from inhomogeneous, arbitrarily shaped objects. The surface of the object is approximated by triangles and the volume of the object is approximated by tetrahedrons. The electrical parameters are assumed constant in each tetrahedron. The Galerkin testing procedure is used. To avoid contaminations of spurious mode, a divergenceless vector basis function is used in finite elements. The calculated internal field and scattered field for a homogeneous sphere, a layered sphere, and a lossy prolate spheroid are compared with Mie series solutions and other numerical techniques. The accuracy and rate of convergence of the solution are discussed. >


Writing optimising compilers is difficult. The range of programs that may be presented to the compiler is huge and the systems on which they run are complex, heterogeneous, non-deterministic, and constantly changing. The space of possible optimisations is also vast, making it very hard for compiler writers to design heuristics that take all of these considerations into account. As a result, many compiler optimisations are out of date or poorly tuned. Near the turn of the century it was first shown how compilers could be made to automatically search the optimisation space, producing programs far better optimised than previously possible, and without the need for compiler writers to worry about architecture or program specifics. The searches, though, were slow, so in the years that followed, machine learning was developed to learn heuristics from the results of previous searches so that thereafter the search could be avoided and much of the benefit could be gained in a single shot. In this paper we will give a retrospective of machine learning in compiler optimisation from its earliest inception, through some of the works that set themselves apart, to today's deep learning, finishing with our vision of the field's future.


This paper provides an overview of the financial performance trends of the Australian superannuation system in the period 1997-2016, based on audited accounting data. Strong contribution flows have allowed total assets to grow at an average annual rate of about ten percent to $2 trillion by June 2016. However, the system is rapidly approaching the withdrawal phase due to demographic and policy factors when net contributions to the system may be negative, in which case investment performance will be critical to sustain the system. Historically, the lacklustre performance of the system, at about 0.7 percent per annum over cash return (before tax), may be attributed significantly to Retail funds which underperform other Public offer funds, on long-term averages, by about two percent per annum.


BACKGROUND
The relation between hunger, satiation, and integrated gastrointestinal motility and hormonal responses in morbidly obese patients after sleeve gastrectomy has not been determined.

OBJECTIVE
The objective was to assess the effects of sleeve gastrectomy on hunger, satiation, gastric and gallbladder motility, and gastrointestinal hormone response after a liquid meal test.

DESIGN
Three groups were studied: morbidly obese patients (n = 16), morbidly obese patients who had had sleeve gastrectomy (n = 8), and nonobese patients (n = 16). The participants fasted for 10 h and then consumed a 200-mL liquid meal (400 kcal + 1.5 g paracetamol). Fasting and postprandial hunger, satiation, hormone concentrations, and gastric and gallbladder emptying were measured several times over 4 h.

RESULTS
No differences were observed in hunger and satiation curves between morbidly obese and nonobese groups; however, sleeve gastrectomy patients were less hungry and more satiated than the other groups. Antrum area during fasting in morbidly obese patients was statistically significant larger than in the nonobese and sleeve gastrectomy groups. Gastric emptying was accelerated in the sleeve gastrectomy group compared with the other 2 groups (which had very similar results). Gallbladder emptying was similar in the 3 groups. Sleeve gastrectomy patients showed the lowest ghrelin concentrations and higher early postprandial cholecystokinin and glucagon-like peptide 1 peaks than did the other participants. This group also showed an improved insulin resistance pattern compared with morbidly obese patients.

CONCLUSIONS
Sleeve gastrectomy seems to be associated with profound changes in gastrointestinal physiology that contribute to reducing hunger and increasing sensations of satiation. These changes include accelerated gastric emptying, enhanced postprandial cholecystokinin and glucagon-like peptide 1 concentrations, and reduced ghrelin release, which together may help patients lose weight and improve their glucose metabolism after surgery. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02414893.


Anne Hutchinson engaged a diverse group of powerful men as well as the disenfranchised during the mid-1630s in Boston's so-called Antinomian Controversy, the name given to the theological battle between John Cotton, who emphasized free grace, and other clerics who focused upon preparation for those seeking salvation. Hutchinson followed Cotton's position, presented his theology in meetings in her home, and inspired her followers, male and female, to reject pastors opposing Cotton's position. Hutchinson's followers included leading men who opposed John Winthrop's leadership of Massachusetts Bay Colony; this dispute also became an arena where Winthrop reasserted his power. Hutchinson represents the Puritans' drive for spiritual development within, including her claim of revelation. She is best understood within a transatlantic framework illustrating both the tools of patriarchal oppression and, more importantly, the appeal of Puritan spirituality for women.


The book is structured as follows. Chapter 1 introduces medieval Holland as a significant entity for institutional-economic development by discussing how the state created a county wide societal structure. As a proto-territorial state Holland had a uniform judiciary, a government apparatus that gave shape to the public sector and regulations aimed at the capital market. At the same time the counts of Holland profited from the capital market: they used funded debt to finance state formation. Lacking creditworthiness, they relied on the solvency of the public sector: individual cities and villages, collectives of cities and ultimately the Staten van Holland intermediated on the capital market. The emergence of public debt caused the public sector to gain influence on national politics and the financial expertise to shift from the center to the periphery; this development reinforced the position of the public sector vis-a-vis the center (chapter 2). To be able to create public debt cities and villages had to gain access to capital markets. They tried to create structures aimed at the market for public debt improving their own position; however, such tendencies to create monopolies were checked and usually public bodies let the forces of supply and demand sort things out (chapter 3). What the capacity of markets for public debt was is the subject of chapter 4. The public sector created market structures supporting both the markets for public and private debt. Issues like secure property rights, contracting institutions and limiting of information costs were all centered on the local court. Why and how public bodies created the institutional framework of the market for private debt is the subject of
chapter 5. The final test is to look at the performance of the private capital market. The central issue at stake is whether it allowed all owners of real estate to contract mortgages. In chapter 6 I will use a number of qualitative and quantitative sources to test the capacity of the medieval capital market.


Previous research has confirmed that the ability to repeat non-words has a close connection to a child's language acquisition (Adams & Gathercole, 2000; Gray, 2003; Sahlen, Reuterskiold-Wagner, Nettelbladt & Radeborg, 1999). It is also known that a repetition task is aided if the word is well known to the child (Roy & Chiat, 2004; Sahlen, m.fl., 1999). A relatively under-investigated area is that of the influence of prosodic variables on repetition of words and non-words.In the current study, 44 Swedish children between the ages of four and six years with typical language development were tested regarding word- and non-word repetition abilities. The words and non-words were matched based on stress, tonal word accent and number of syllables. Segmental as well as supra segmental variables were analyzed.The children performed better on the word repetition task than on the non-word repetition task, based on all accounts of segmental variables. Vowels were easier to repeat than consonants, but appeared to be developing to the same extent. There was no difference in performance relating to manipulation of supra segmental variables.. Children between the ages of five and six achieved better results than the younger children regarding both segmental and supra segmental aspects. Correlations between all segmental variables were observed, as well as between segmental and supra segmental variables. The authors discuss whether or not supra segmental variables could be another strong indicator for language impairments. No gender differences could be observed. Stress had strong correlations with other supra segmental aspects as well as with segmental variables, and seems to be an important ability to analyze The results also revealed that the prosodic ability is not connected to whether the word to be repeated is previously known.


This guide provides a collection of freely available web resources (as well as resources available through Westlaw and Lexis) that cover various areas of Individualized Education Programs, including eligibility and evaluation, the program creation process Secondary sources on IEPs


The Great Lakes watershed is one of the most invaded freshwater ecosystems, making early and rapid detection of new invaders critical to reduce their effects on this fragile system. The genus Corbicula, freshwater clams native to the temperate/tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and Australia, contains some of the most common and successful aquatic nuisance species in the New World. These invasive populations appear to exclusively comprise asexual clonal lineages, which hinder our taxonomic understanding. Previous work suggests three clonal morphotypes have invaded the New World—Forms A, B, and C, with Forms A and B co-occurring in North America. Here, we report on an apparently novel North American invasive Corbicula lineage recently discovered in the Illinois River, which has an artificial connection to the Great Lakes. This putative new morph was found co-occurring with previously described Corbicula morphotypes. Our main objective was to document the occurrence of this new morphotype (=Form D) and perform a preliminary analysis of its distinctiveness from sympatric Forms A and B using shell phenotype characteristics and mitochondrial (mt) and nuclear DNA markers. Results showed that the three co-occurring forms were distinguishable using shell phenotype and nuclear 28S ribosomal DNA sequences. Individuals were unambiguously assigned to one of three discrete shell phenotypes, Form A, B, or D, with Form D specimens characterized by fine rust colored rays and white nacre with purple teeth. Likewise, 28S genotypes identified three distinct morphs, with Form D differing from Forms A and B by 2–6 base pairs. In contrast, Form D individuals were distinguishable from Form B via mitochondrial markers but shared an identical mtDNA haplotype with sympatric Form A individuals. This latter result could stem from androgenetic capture of Form A eggs by invasive Form D sperm, a rare form of inheritance previously inferred for co-occurring North American Corbicula clones. Further morphological, ecological, and genomic analyses characterizing the three morphotypes are required to establish the significance of our preliminary findings.


Natural Language Processing (NLP) is poised to substantially influence the world. However, significant progress comes hand-in-hand with substantial risks. Addressing them requires broad engagement with various fields of study. Yet, little empirical work examines the state of such engagement (past or current). In this paper, we quantify the degree of influence between 23 fields of study and NLP (on each other). We analyzed ~77k NLP papers, ~3.1m citations from NLP papers to other papers, and ~1.8m citations from other papers to NLP papers. We show that, unlike most fields, the cross-field engagement of NLP, measured by our proposed Citation Field Diversity Index (CFDI), has declined from 0.58 in 1980 to 0.31 in 2022 (an all-time low). In addition, we find that NLP has grown more insular -- citing increasingly more NLP papers and having fewer papers that act as bridges between fields. NLP citations are dominated by computer science; Less than 8% of NLP citations are to linguistics, and less than 3% are to math and psychology. These findings underscore NLP's urgent need to reflect on its engagement with various fields.


The aim of this paper is to analyze the ongoing effects of macroeconomic policy and changes in both the institutional arrangements and the market environment upon the structure and performance of manufacturing industries in the CSFR and the Czech Republic. Restructuring processes are analyzed from the point of view of reallocation of resources, as well as efficiency of resources given their allocation. For these purposes, two different methodological approaches are implemented: production functions and multicriterial evaluations using parameters such as: value added, net productivity, export-sales ratio, etc. The analysis suggests that the general result of the Czechoslovak (Czech) industry is driven by a major diversity in individual enterprises. An assessment of the main indicators of performance, i.e. labor productivity and export performance, shows that the effects of transformation have not occurred to a more substantial extent. This is true mainly for skilled labor which is viewed as the most important comparative advantage of the Czech economy. On the other hand, the industries with the highest performance appear to be those whose development should be curtailed, i.e. iron and steel industry and heavy chemistry. Surprisingly, the industries which form an underlying profile of the Czech industry, i.e. machinery sectors, have seen a decrease in their performance. Analytical results indicate that a successful resolution of some the crucial problems is clearly beyond the capabilities of the market and requires governmental action.


An issue rose for industrial safety and successful address of crisis involves quick and pragmatic decision that would reduce losses and accidents. This will become practical when in addition to studying of past accidents the industrial executives create the necessary readiness to face risks through precise estimation of the consequences of eventual accidents. The present research concerns modeling the consequences of chlorine gas dispersion in the wastewater installations. The transfer of knowledge and information in this study were gained from modeling the dispersion of chlorine in the water treatment plants, useful for managers and executives. Detection and specifying the risks of chlorine for the public and especially the staff and those residing near the water treatment plant, would result in the appropriate action against this lethal substance, which is the subject of this study. Identification of risks related to foreign agents and their negative impacts on water treatment plants containing chlorine tanks is among the objectives of this study. The modeling and accurate specification of the scope and level of danger created following the dispersion of chlorine was done using the PHAST software, which allowed a clear identification of danger zones created by the dispersion of Chlorine. This text reports the radius of areas affected by chlorine dispersion as well as the results of different conditions after running the model for variable physical and process conditions, and given their availability, these results can be compared with each other.


INTRODUCTION
Pilots flying high-performance aircraft increase their acceleration tolerance by using straining maneuvers and anti-G suits. Recently, assisted positive pressure breathing has been added in some aircraft systems. This study assessed the effect of anti-G straining maneuvers on the G-protective properties of one such system, the AGE-39 anti-G ensemble used in the Swedish JAS 39 Gripen aircraft.

METHODS
Ten subjects were studied in a centrifuge using each of the following: 1) the AGE-39 in combination with anti-G straining maneuvers (AGSM) throughout each high-G exposure (full maneuver; FM); 2) the AGE-39 in combination with AGSM only during the initial part of each high-G exposure (reduced maneuver; RM). G-tolerance was established during exposures to rapid onset rate (ROR) G profiles with plateau levels ranging from 6.5 to 9.0 G.

RESULTS
Mean G-tolerance was > or = 8.8 G (range: 8.5 to > or = 9.0 G) in the RM condition and > or = 9.0 G in all subjects in the FM condition. Mean arterial pressure was 30-50 mm Hg higher (p < 0.001) in the FM than in the RM condition at any given ROR G-load.

CONCLUSIONS
AGE-39 in combination with a brief period of straining provide efficient G-protection as illustrated by the finding that all subjects could tolerate 8.5 G while performing AGSM during the initial part of the high-G exposures. However, at 9.0 G, 40% of the subjects had to perform AGSM throughout the duration of the G-exposure. That arterial pressure was only 30-50 mm Hg higher in the FM than RM condition suggests that in the presence of straining maneuvers, pressure breathing makes only a minute contribution to the arterial-pressure response.


The objective of the paper is to present a method, called the sequential regularization method (SRM), for the nonstationary incompressible Navier--Stokes equations from the viewpoint of regularization of differential-algebraic equations (DAEs), and to provide a way to apply a DAE method to partial differential-algebraic equations (PDAEs). The SRM is a functional iterative procedure. It is proved that its convergence rate is $O(\epsilon^m)$, where $m$ is the number of the SRM iterations and $\epsilon$ is the regularization parameter. The discretization and implementation issues of the method are considered. In particular, a simple explicit-difference scheme is analyzed and its stability is proved under the usual step-size condition of explicit schemes. It appears that the SRM formulation is new in the Navier--Stokes context. Unlike other regularizations or pseudocompressibility methods in the Navier--Stokes context, the regularization parameter $\epsilon$ in the SRM need not be very small and the regularized problem in the sequence may be essentially nonstiff in time direction for any $\epsilon$. Hence the stability condition is independent of $\epsilon$ even for explicit time discretization. Numerical experiments are given to verify our theoretical results.


The mathematicians and computer scientists who form the core of artificial-life enthusiasts have long thought that their evolution-inspired computer techniques can model reality—and even create it. Their enthusiasm was much in evidence at A-Life V, held 16 to 18 May in Nara, Japan, where 500 attendees heard about efforts to evolve useful circuit designs and a model of runaway sexual selection. Computers/Math


The objective of this research is to investigate food product innovation in the context of the first-mover strategy among food manufacturers within agrifood supply chains. The emphasis of the analysis is on developing a useful metric for tracking new product development in the context of first-mover strategy. Entropy is introduced as a novel and useful means of examining first-mover strategy and new product development (NPD) in general. Understanding the complexities of the first-mover strategy and tracking NPD with entropy metrics holds promise for enhancing the analysis of agrifood supply chains and assisting firms in deciphering broad strategies of their rivals.


Development assistance programs in the law and justice sector have traditionally focused on reforming state legal institutions to the exclusion of customary legal systems. This is often because of host country pressure to achieve quick results, limited familiarity of foreign lawyers with the concepts of customary law, and donor reluctance to support customs that substantively or procedurally violate human rights norms. Yet, rule of law practitioners deployed to developing and post-conflict countries are increasingly confronted with the reality that customary legal systems are the preferred and, for the foreseeable future, the only viable means of dispute resolution available to the vast majority of people. Given the empirical evidence on the high level of recourse to customary law, this paper argues that customary legal systems are integral to development, and that both customary and state legal systems have a role to play in a functional justice sector. However, there is little systematic guidance for practitioners in the field, many of whom have had no previous exposure to customary law, on exactly what options are available to engage both systems and the issues that different types of interventions raise. This paper sets out a framework of policy options for programs that seek to harness the respective strengths of customary and state legal systems, giving examples of initiatives that have attempted to do this. The paper concludes by proposing good practices for rule of law practitioners to follow in supporting customary and state legal systems that co-exist in a manner which advances peace, economic growth and sustainable development.


Occupational heat strain is a public health threat, and for outdoor industries there is a direct influence from elevated environmental temperatures during heat waves. However, the impact in indoor settings is more complex as industrial heat production and building architecture become factors of importance. Therefore, this study evaluated effects of heat waves on manufacturing productivity. Production halls in a manufacturing company were instrumented with 33 dataloggers to track air temperature and humidity. In addition, outdoor thermal conditions collected from a weather station next to the factory and daily productivity evaluated as overall equipment efficiency (OEE) were obtained, with interaction between productivity and thermal conditions analyzed before, during, and after four documented heat waves (average daily air temperature above 24°C on at least three consecutive days). Outdoor (before: 21.3° ± 4.6°C, during: 25.5° ± 4.3°C, and after: 19.8° ± 3.8°C) and indoor air temperatures (before: 30.4° ± 1.3°C, during: 32.8° ± 1.4°C, and after: 30.1° ± 1.4°C) were significantly elevated during the heat waves (p < 0.05). OEE was not different during the heat waves when compared with control, pre-heat-wave, and post-heat-wave OEE. Reduced OEE was observed in 3-day periods following the second and fourth heat wave (p < 0.05). Indoor workers in settings with high industrial heat production are exposed to a significant thermal stress that may increase during heat waves, but the impact on productivity cannot be directly derived from outdoor factors. The significant decline in productivity immediately following two of the documented heat waves could relate to a cumulative effect of the thermal strain experienced during work combined with high heat stress in the recovery time between work shifts.


ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore factors associated with psychological resilience in a sample of 360 survivors of the two earthquakes in Van, Turkey in 2011. Using a survey with measures on various pre-, within-, and post-disaster variables, it has been shown that psychological resilience was influenced by multiple factors, providing empirical evidence for a multifactorial understanding of resilience. Furthermore, the study extended the traditional ways of resilience assessment by including stress-coping ability and severity of trauma-related symptoms as indicators of psychological resilience simultaneously. Findings were discussed considering the implications for research and interventions in the aftermath of natural disasters.


Security, anonymity, and scalability are important issues for mobile ad hoc network routing protocols, especially in private-vital practical applications. Although there are several papers on anonymous secure routing in mobile ad hoc networks, few research works can achieve sufficient anonymity and strong security, and at the same time provide good scalability. Therefore, in this paper, we present a new distributed anonymous secure routing protocol with good scalability for mobile ad hoc networks. The proposed protocol addresses the problems of anonymous routing and later anonymous data transmission via a dynamic identity pseudonymity approach based on Incomparable Public Keys. Good scalability is achieved by using Diffie-Hellman key exchange scheme and symmetric key cryptography, instead of public key cryptography. In comparison with other previous anonymous secure routing protocols, the proposed protocol not only has strong security and sufficient anonymity protection, but also provides better scalability.


We have proposed a GAG (Gaining Angle of Gaze) strategy for ball catching. The strategy allows single camera configuration and it is robust against camera motion errors. It is superior than previously proposed strategies in the field of experimental psychology in the catchable region and robustness. In this paper, we apply the GAG strategy for tracking and catching a 3D flying target. The GAG strategy is extended for hand-eye robot manipulators and ball catching performance is evaluated by simulations and experiments.


The purpose of this thesis is to explore the complex relationships between Australia's approaches to human rights (HR) and to globalisation. This thesis examines the ways in which global economic activity, otherwise called economic globalisation, has influenced or determined Australia's foreign policy with regards to HR. This research investigates the complex relationships between Australia's Human Rights in its foreign policy and globalisation since the 1970s, by exploring the interaction between ongoing globalisation and Australian foreign policy. Its central argument is that Australia's foreign policy with regards to HR has been compromised by globalisation in the pursuit of its own national economic interests. Australia's lack of morality under its foreign policy has failed to take a state's moral obligation with regard to human rights, as international human rights principles and agreements require. This thesis critically analyses a nexus between the support and promotion of the HR approaches of Australian foreign policies since the 1970s on the one hand, and Australia's enthusiastic embrace of economic globalisation, on the other. It is argued that Australian foreign policy has been aimed at establishing an approach toward globalisation which gives priority to national business interests. This has resulted in inconsistent approaches to HR, especially with regards to Australia's nearest neighbour, East Timor. By exploring approaches of Australian Governments with regards to HR, especially some maritime boundary treaties of the Timor Sea that Australia has conducted and concluded, this thesis examines and shows the way in which Australian foreign policy has been shaped by economic global views, which in turn have had increasingly adverse effects on its international human rights policies. The case study of Australia's policies on East Timor reveal increasing inconsistency between HR principles and actions.


The first part of the thesis is a brief review on the most important aspects of HEV infection in human and swine, followed by an update on the laboratory techniques currently in use for the diagnosis of HEV infections in humans and animals. The second part refers on the results of two investigations carried out on the presence of HEV infection in swine farms in Toscana and Piemonte and on the presence of HEV infection in pigs and humans in some rural communities in Bolivia. HEV strains isolated from swine herds in Toscana and Piemonte were all included in the genotype 3, showing particular homology with Dutch porcine isolates, Spanish porcine and human isolates and British human isolates. The investigation carried out, with a random sampling, in the province of Cuneo, detected HEV infection with a prevalence of 46% on farms with a number of pigs greater than 500. HEV was detected in pigs and humans in rural communities in Bolivia and all the viral isolate were included in the genotype 3. Aminoacidic homology of human and swine isolates was estimated to be 92%. Results on the development of a Real Time RT-PCR to detect HEV are also reported. The used Real Time RT-PCR protocols, one step and two steps, exhibited good sensitivity to detect several Italian swine HEV strains with high rate of genetic variability.


Abstract Self-paced post-secondary studies are expected to become much more common in the near future, yet little is known about the causes of student withdrawal from such programs. This paper studies student withdrawal from an entire degree program rather than a particular course, examining both qualitative and quantitative data. We find that staff behaviors and perceived educational quality are related to the likelihood of withdrawal. Demographic characteristics (gender, full-time employment, and marital status) are unrelated to the likelihood of withdrawal. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.


Children and adolescents from immigrant families often mediate and translate for their parents and other family members who are not as proficient in the local language, a practice known as Child Language Brokering. The task that these children perform while brokering is multi-faceted and may have multiple consequences on all the parties involved as well as representing a source of power and agency for the children who perform it. This doctoral thesis sets out to explore how child language brokering is perceived, remembered and performed by bilingual migrant children. By combining a qualitative and quantitative methodological approach, which draws on a multidisciplinary framework, the aim is to investigate child language brokers' attitudes and selfperceptions about this phenomenon and their interactional contribution within the interaction they broker. A self-reported questionnaire was administered to high-school students attending vocational schools in the central and northern regions of Italy in order to examine the affective, behavioural, and cognitive components of their attitudes towards child language brokering. A semi-structured interview was conducted with junior high-school students to investigate their self-perceptions and feelings about this practice, and to explore their perceived agency when performing this activity. Real-life interactions brokered by children were audio-recorded in order to study how child language brokers co-construct meaning and participate in the communication they broker. The findings from this research project suggest that implementing a mixed methodology to investigate such a multifaceted and complex phenomenon is a valuable approach. The findings highlight the interactional agency and the active role of child language brokers, who are agentic and empowered participant in the conversation they broker.


In this paper, we systematically analyze the connecting architectures of recurrent neural networks (RNNs). Our main contribution is twofold: first, we present a rigorous graph-theoretic framework describing the connecting architectures of RNNs in general. Second, we propose three architecture complexity measures of RNNs: (a) the recurrent depth, which captures the RNN's over-time nonlinear complexity, (b) the feedforward depth, which captures the local input-output nonlinearity (similar to the "depth" in feedforward neural networks (FNNs)), and (c) the recurrent skip coefficient which captures how rapidly the information propagates over time. We rigorously prove each measure's existence and computability. Our experimental results show that RNNs might benefit from larger recurrent depth and feedforward depth. We further demonstrate that increasing recurrent skip coefficient offers performance boosts on long term dependency problems.


James A. Connolly and Marc M. Hirschmann received the 2011 N. L. Bowen Award at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting, held 5–9 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes "outstanding contributions to volcanology, geochemistry, or petrology."


Bacteria were screened to identify strains that could degrade carbazole, a model compound for the N-containing compounds present in fossil fuels which could be removed by biodenitrogenation instead of hydrotreatment. Enrichment cultures from 6 different habitats were examined with carbazole as a source of nitrogen. Bacterium strain NIY3 was isolated, which efficiently metabolized very low concentrations of carbazole. Strain NIY3 is a bright yellow Gram-negative immotile bacterium with a rod shape (0.7×0.7-1.0 μm). DNA base sequence anal ysis revealed that strain NIY3 belongs to genus Novosphingobium sp., most closely related to Novosphingobium subarcticum (98.3% similarity). Novosphingobium sp. strain NIY3 could degrade 95% of 100 ppm of carbazole in a culture within 3 days.


A transposon Tn10 insertion in topA, the structural gene of Escherichia coli DNA topoisomerase I, behaves as an excluded marker in genetic crosses with many strains of E. coli. However, derivative strains that accept this mutant topA allele are readily selected. We show that many of these topA mutant strains contain additional mutations that compensate for the loss of DNA topoisomerase I. Genetic methods for mapping and manipulating such compensatory mutations are described. These methods include a plate-mating test for the ability of strains to accept a topA::Tn10 allele and a powerful indirect selection for transferring compensatory mutations from male strains into non-compensatory female strains. One collection of spontaneous compensatory mutants is analyzed in detail and is shown to include compensatory mutations at three distinct loci: gyrA and gyrB, the genes that encode the subunits of DNA gyrase, and a previously unidentified locus near tolC. Mutations at this third locus, referred to as toc (topoisomerase one compensatory) mutations, do not behave as point mutations in transductional crosses and do not result in lowered DNA gyrase activity. These results show that wild-type strains of E. coli require DNA topoisomerase I, and at least one class of compensatory mutations can relieve this requirement by a mechanism other than reduction of DNA gyrase activity.


Abstract Formation micro-imaging (FMI) is a tool that produces micro-resistivity images of the sidewall of the well bore. FMI logging used in conjunction with conventional well logging techniques (e.g. GR, Gamma Ray/RES, Resistivity/NPHI, Neutron Porosity/SONIC, Velocity tools) allows detailed analysis of volcanic lithofacies variation and informs a robust interpretation of volcanic sequences. This methodology is of particular use where rock core data are limited or not present. Examples are presented from the Rosebank Field in the Faroe–Shetland Basin (West of Shetland, UK continental shelf) where the re-establishment of fluvial activity between phases of effusive volcanism resulted in a complex sequence of siliciclastic sedimentary rocks and basaltic lavas. We demonstrate how high-resolution FMI images through this sequence can differentiate internal basalt lava flow features, such as vesicular zones, brecciated intervals, sediment–lava contact relationships and joint/fracture networks. If FMI data exist through volcanic packages and if assessed and calibrated properly via core, sidewall core and field analogue comparisons, it can provide additional constraints on the interpretation and classification of reservoir (siliciclastic) and non-reservoir (volcanic) rocks.


AIM
This paper is a report of a study conducted to explore the comfort experiences of hospitalized patients during their admission to medical-surgical wards in an Iranian hospital.

BACKGROUND
Comfort has various definitions, ranging from a basic human need, to a process, function or an outcome of nursing. As comfort is a substantive need throughout life in health and illness, providing comfort is a major function and challenge for holistic nursing care.

METHOD
This hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted between July 2006 and April 2007 in six medical-surgical wards of one of a university hospital in Iran. Data were generated with 22 participants (16 hospitalized patients and six nurses), using in-depth interviews to capture their detailed experiences of comfort. Analysis based on the framework of Diekelmann enabled data interpretation and elaboration of shared themes.

FINDINGS
One constitutive pattern, 'Comfort: a need of hospitalized patients' and four related themes - A friend in hospital, Relief of suffering within a calm environment, Seeking God, and Presence among family - were identified in the data.

CONCLUSION
These findings offer unique insight for planning and implementing appropriate clinical practices in Iran, especially in caring for Muslim patients. Two major implications are to: (1) consider comfort criteria during nursing assessment and planning of care during a patient's hospitalization and (2) note that Shiite people in particular are more comfortable and feel better when they are able to follow their religious principles.


Group BIII (Al, In)-, BV(Bi, Sb) and BVI(Te, Se)-doped Mg2Si compounds were synthesized by solid-state reaction and mechanical alloying. Electronic transport properties (Hall coefficient, carrier concentration and mobility) and thermoelectric properties (Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and figure-of-merit) were examined. Mg2Si powder was synthesized successfully by solid-state reaction at 773 K for 6 h and doped by mechanical alloying for 24 h. It was fully consolidated by hot pressing at 1073 K for 1 h. All doped Mg2Si compounds showed n-type conduction, indicating that the electrical conduction is due mainly to electrons. The electrical conductivity increased greatly by doping due to an increase in the carrier concentration. However, the thermal conductivity did not changed significantly by doping, which was due to much larger contribution of the lattice thermal conductivity over the electronic thermal conductivity. Group BV(Bi, Sb) elements were much more effective to...


The aim of this study was to investigate the dynamic shear failure behavior of RC beams under rapid loading through an experimental study. Thus, rapid loading test for 48 RC beams was performed, in which shear span-to-depth ratio, shear reinforcement ratio and loading rate were variable. The RC beams exhibited diagonal tension failure, shear compression failure and flexural failure depending mainly on the shear span-to-depth ratio and the shear reinforcement ratio. The influence of loading rate on the maximum resistance is more significant for the RC beams failed in shear than for those failed in flexure.


In this paper, we propose a new state estimator called the two-layer nonlinear finite impulse response (TLNF) filter and adopt this new filter and unscented Kalman filter (UKF) as subfilters to create the fusion TLNF/UK filter. The TLNF filter is constructed with measurements that are redefined by weighting the estimated states acquired through minimizing the cost function based on the Frobenius norm. The efficient iterative form of the TLNF filter is also developed in this paper. Using the fact that the UKF and the TLNF filter each takes a different type of memory structure, the fusion TLNF/UK filter is designed as a robust nonlinear state estimator taking both advantages of each filter. To obtain the best fusion estimates, probabilistic weights are computed based on Bayes' rule and the likelihood of each filter. Both simulation and experimental results for mobile robot indoor localization have shown that the fusion TLNF/UK filter achieves a higher level of accuracy and robustness under practical situations.


This article explores consumer tendencies to opt for luxury or economy hotels by identifying their most and least important selection attributes. The researchers investigate how sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics influence traveler assessments of hotel attributes. In explaining consumer hotel selection preferences, the researchers used an unconditional method—best–worst scaling (BWS). Based on an analysis of responses from 397 luxury hotel customers and 351 economy hotel customers in the United States, it was found that the two groups perceive hotel attributes differently. Differentials were also identified on the basis of gender, income, and frequency of purchase. While acknowledging that the task is complex, there is an urgent need to identify the factors influencing hotel selection, because hoteliers need to attract new markets and also balance this by retaining existing patrons. The findings extend existing literature by applying BWS to the identification of hotel selection attributes.


In presenting some facts and figures about the position of women in Zambia, I am fully aware of the limitations to such an approach. Obviously Zambian women live in a stratified society, and this should influence the way my statistics are used. Specific groups of Zambian women - like the professional, business and governmental elites, the subi?½lites (secretaries, nurses, some shop workers, etc) and urban woman entrepreneurs - have received special attention in academic research. This could be understood against the interest in urbanization and the attendant creativity released by the pressure for economic and cultural change. But it is well to remember that fully 64 per cent of all Zambian women workers are employed in the agricultural sector. Sub-Saharan African women grow at least 50 per cent of the region's food.


Electrical insulation plays a critical role in the operation of motor and generator rotor and stator windings. Premature failure of the insulation can cost millions of dollars per day. With advancements in electronics, sensors, computers and software, tremendous progress has been made in the past 25 yr which has transformed on-line insulation monitoring from a rarely used and expensive tool, to the point where 50% of large utility generators in North America are now equipped for such monitoring. This review paper outlines the motivation for online monitoring, discusses the transition to today's technology, and describes the variety of methods now in use for rotor winding and stator winding monitoring.


A cycle of glacial and interglacial periods in the Quaternary caused species' ranges to expand and contract in response to climatic and environmental changes. During interglacial periods, many species expanded their distribution ranges from refugia into higher elevations and latitudes. In the present work, we projected the responses of the five lineages of Testudo
graeca in the Middle East and Transcaucasia as the climate shifted from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, Mid – Holocene), to the present. Under the past LGM and Mid-Holocene bioclimatic conditions, models predicted relatively more suitable habitats for some of the lineages. The most significant bioclimatic variables in predicting the present and past potential distribution of clades are the precipitation of the warmest quarter for T. g. armeniaca (95.8 %), precipitation seasonality for T. g. buxtoni (85.0 %), minimum temperature of the coldest month for T. g. ibera (75.4 %), precipitation of the coldest quarter for T. g. terrestris (34.1 %), and the mean temperature of the driest quarter for T. g. zarudyni (88.8 %). Since the LGM, we hypothesise that the ranges of lineages have either expanded (T. g. ibera), contracted (T. g. zarudnyi) or remained stable (T. g. terrestris), and for other two taxa (T. g. armeniaca and T. g. buxtoni) the pattern remains unclear. Our analysis predicts multiple refugia for Testudo during the LGM and supports previous hypotheses about high lineage richness in Anatolia
resulting from secondary contact.


The continuous evolution of wireless networks, as well as the attention paid by public opinion to human exposure to electromagnetic fields radiated by base-station antennas, render the development of software tools to support optimum design and planning of wireless networks highly desirable. Although many tools are already available, open problems are still on the table, such as the efficient implementation of optimization methods to identify optimum locations and electrical parameters for base-station antennas. In this paper, the recent technology of software agents is adopted, in conjunction with genetic algorithms and parallel computing, in order to perform effective and efficient optimization of wireless networks. The paper introduces and discusses the suitability of these information technologies for attacking the problems addressed. The use of the proposed solution, based on software agents, was tested on real cases. Impressive results were achieved for both the accuracy and the performance attained, with the use of low-cost computing platforms and freeware tools.


A low-complexity voice recognition method in a car environment is proposed. Models of noise in the car environment are adaptable in an easy way. Power computation and memory storage for the proposed method are very low. Some real world tests are conducted and show that the proposed voice recognition method has potential for application to car cellular telephones.


Its acute leukemia, phagocytosis of Brucella organisms by mature neutrophils was not impaired. Phagocytosis of these organisms was not altered by antimetabolite therapy or during periods of bacterial infection. The absolute mature neutrophil count when infection developed was found to vary from patient to patient. The onset of bacterial infection in patients with acute leukemia was preceded by dynamic decreases in the number of mature neutrophils in the peripheral blood. Seventeen of eighteen patients had lower mature neutrophil counts immediately prior to the onset of infection as compared to the period free of infection. The median decrease was 54 per cent. As infection did not always follow decreases in mature neutrophils it is suggested that other factors also play a role in the development of bacterial infections in patients with acute leukemia.


Lotte Chemical, of South Korea, has put in a bid for Jurong Aromatics, a troubled Singapore-based petrochemical producer. In a statement, Lotte said it had sent a letter of intent to Jurong. Built at a cost of $2.4 billion, the aromatics complex features an 800,000-metric-ton-per-year p-xylene plant. The firm started production in August 2014 but went into receivership one year later because of operational problems, according to a law firm advising the receivers. Jurong is owned by a consortium that includes SK Energy, Jiangsu Sanfanxiang, Glencore, and the Singapore government.


An effective framework for learning 3D representations for perception tasks is distilling rich self-supervised image features via contrastive learning. However, image-to-point representation learning for autonomous driving datasets faces two main challenges: 1) the abundance of self-similarity, which results in the contrastive losses pushing away semantically similar point and image regions and thus disturbing the local semantic structure of the learned representations, and 2) severe class imbalance as pretraining gets dominated by over-represented classes. We propose to alleviate the self-similarity problem through a novel semantically tolerant image-to-point contrastive loss that takes into consideration the semantic distance between positive and negative image regions to minimize contrasting semantically similar point and image regions. Additionally, we address class imbalance by designing a class-agnostic balanced loss that approximates the degree of class imbalance through an aggregate sample-to-samples semantic similarity measure. We demonstrate that our semantically-tolerant contrastive loss with class balancing improves state-of-the-art 2D-to-3D representation learning in all evaluation settings on 3D semantic segmentation. Our method consistently outperforms state-of-the-art 2D-to-3D representation learning frameworks across a wide range of 2D self-supervised pretrained models.